Dueling
by Jestana
Summary: Minerva and Albus have a friendly practice duel that turns into something more. ;)


Dueling  
  
A/N: Child-of-the-Dawn gave me an idea for an AD/MM fic and here it is, so enjoy it!  
  
"Expelliarmus!" he cried, sending a jet of red light towards his opponent.  
  
"Protego," she retaliated, deflecting his spell. "Really, Albus, is that the best you can do?"  
  
"Indeed not, Minerva," he replied. "Stupefy!"  
  
She dodged the spell, one black brow raised. "Must you remind me of that, Albus?"  
  
"It's not your fault, Minerva," Albus told her, even as he dodged the spell she sent at him in response. "If they'd faced you honorably, they never would have been able to defeat you."  
  
Her cheeks flushed as she deflected his next attack. "Thank you for the compliment, Albus, but it won't distract me."  
  
"That was not my intention." He changed the jet of blue light speeding towards his face into a shower of carnations.  
  
She ducked and rolled to avoid the next two spells he cast, rising gracefully to her feet. "What _was_ your intention, then, Albus?"  
  
"Just to compliment you, my dear," he replied, avoiding her counter- attacks.  
  
For awhile, they exchanged curses and counter-curses at a furious rate, saving their breath to cast them. Both were expert duelists, having survived two wars together. They were dueling because Minerva had mentioned that she felt she was losing her touch. Albus' reply had been that he doubted she could ever lose her touch, but offered to duel with her if it would reassure her. She accepted and they had been dueling for a good fifteen minutes when a particularly well-aimed set of spells managed to slip through her guard.  
  
"Ouch!" She grabbed for her wand, but it slipped from her suddenly numb fingers and Albus summoned it easily. "See what I mean, Albus?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Minerva," He walked over and returned her wand to her. "Does it hurt much?"  
  
She carefully eased her hand from her arm, revealing a rather nasty cut. "It's not that deep."  
  
"Here, let me," he tucked his wand into his belt and carefully peeled the fabric of her sleeve away from the cut. He examined it closely, his nose just inches away from her arm. "Hmm, it doesn't look too bad, but you might want to be careful." He cast a cleaning charm on the cut and then a charm to seal the skin together over it. "It'll be tender for a while."  
  
She nodded, her heart hammering harder than it had during their duel. "Thank you, Albus."  
  
"You're welcome, Minerva," he replied, straightening up.  
  
She looked up at him to say something, but her voice died in her throat when she realized there were just scant inches between their faces. Her heart stopped for a moment, and then went into overdrive. It was thundering so loudly in her ears that she was sure he could hear it. After swallowing several times, she managed to force words from her dry throat, her voice barely more than a whisper, "Albus..."  
  
His eyes, an unfamiliar emotion in their bright blue depths, bored into hers; his hand rose to caress her cheek, send tingles of pleasure up and down her spine. When he spoke, his voice was very soft. "Yes, Minerva?"  
  
Gathering the courage that had landed her in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw, Minerva closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his in a tentative kiss, her hands on his shoulders to maintain her balance. After a moment, he responded to the kiss, his hand sliding from her cheek to her neck, easing her closer. Making a soft sound in the back of her throat, her arms slid around his shoulders. As he deepened the kiss, his arms slid around her waist, pulling her even closer.  
  
She made a sound of protest when he ended the kiss, her eyes, which had closed at some point during the kiss, opening languidly to meet his. They stared at each other for a long moment, both gulping in ragged breaths of air. Finally, he rested his forehead against hers, his arms still around her waist. "Minerva, I sincerely hope you are not toying with me."  
  
Her arms still around his shoulders, she absently combed her fingers through his hair, enjoying the silky texture. "Why would I, Albus? You should know by now that I'm not the sort to toy with men's feelings."  
  
He closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, I know."  
  
"I wouldn't kiss you like this if I didn't mean it," she whispered, sliding a hand forward to cup his cheek. "Trust me."  
  
He opened his eyes and met her steady gaze. "I _do_ trust you, Minerva."  
  
"Then trust me when I tell you that I love you." She cupped his other cheek with her other hand. "I have for a long time."  
  
"How long?" he whispered, raising his hands to cradle her face between them.  
  
She traced her fingers along the top of his beard. "Since I was Head Girl."  
  
His eyes widened. "That long?"  
  
She smiled, a little sheepishly. "Yes, but I was afraid to tell you because I couldn't bear the thought that you could only see me as your student."  
  
He brushed the pads of his thumbs over her cheeks, mirroring her movements. "When you arrived for your final year, I noticed right away that you were very much a woman." She blushed, dropping her gaze. "I felt like a lecherous old pervert, thinking something like that about you. And I was afraid of what you would think of me for that."  
  
She laughed softly. "Oh, Albus, we've been rather ridiculous all these years, haven't we?"  
  
He chuckled as well, his hands dropping to rest lightly on her hips. "Yes, we have."  
  
"What do we do now?" she asked quietly, linking her hands behind his neck.  
  
"Kiss, hopefully," he replied, his eyes twinkling impishly.  
  
She swatted his shoulder. "I didn't mean literally, Albus, but what do we do about our relationship?"  
  
He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth to press a kiss to the palm. "I would like to continue exploring it, but I fear what would happen if Voldemort were to find out."  
  
She sighed and nodded. "I'm guessing we'll be keeping our relationship a secret for now, then?"  
  
"Yes," he confirmed with a sigh, "though I would dearly love to shout from the rooftops that I love you and you love me."  
  
She smiled gently at him. "I would love to avoid sneaking around myself, but, so long as _you_ know I love you, I am content."  
  
Rather than answer in words, he kissed her once again. Moaning softly, she deepened the kiss. 


End file.
